Detail of an Ionic
Column on the front porch of the Barrow Mansion
Photo: A. Selvaggio, 2002

Early 20th century photograph of Wayne Streert showing (left to right)
the Barrow
Mansion, St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, and the Van Vorst (Benjamin Edge) Mansion
Courtesy: Jersey City Free Public Library

The distinctive Greek Revival
building known both as the Barrow Mansion and the Ionic House is a stately
reminder of classical architecture popular in the mid-nineteenth century.
The wood structure
has five Ionic columns gracing a two-story portico. The columns divide
the building into four equal bays, effecting an offset center hall. The
interior of late Federal-early Greek Revival style with some Victorian
décor features a ballroom, carved Italian marble fireplaces and
twelve-foot ceilings.

It was owned by Dr.
William Barrow, a New York City physician, probably between 1835 and 1837,
and was one of two similar homes constructed on Wayne Street by the second
Cornelius Van Vorst. He was one of the founders of the Township of Van
Vorst and mayor of Jersey City from 1860-to-1861. Dr. Barrow purchased
the 83 Wayne Street property after he married Van Vorst's sister Eliza.
Van Vorst himself resided at 89 Wayne Street. The twin mansions were separated
by a lawn and stood near the site of an early Van
Vorst family farmhouse. In 1874, Van Vorst sold his home to Dr. Benjamin
Edge, a descendent of one of Jersey City's early businessmen, Isaac
Edge. The Van Vorst mansion was demolished in the 1920s and replaced
by an apartment house.

Left: Detail from the 1919 Plat Book of Jersey City
showing the buildings then in existence on the south side of Wayne Street between Jersey Avenue and Barrow Street. The Barrow Mansion at No. 83 has been remodelled as the headquarters of the Young Men's Lutheran Association.The old Van Vorst Mansion at No. 89 was later replaced by the new Wayne Court Apartments before 1928.Credits: New York Society of Model Engineer's Library, Rich Taylor Collectionand Historical Maps of New Jersey site of Rutgers University

After the demise of
Barrow and his wife, the mansion was sold to the YMCA in 1890 and was
modified with a gymnasium and rifle range. St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran
Church purchased the former Barrow residence in 1897 as a parish house.
The pistol range was later converted to a two-lane bowling alley in the
basement. The following year St. Matthew's Church was built on the lawn
between the Barrow and Van Vorst mansions. The church flourished until
the 1920s and the former mansion and parish house became a lively and
popular social center. Dances in the ballroom as well as card parties
and bazaars supplied leisure-time activities for parishioners.

Barrow
Mansion
Photo: P. Shalhoub, 2001

Over the years the
Barrow Mansion had suffered from neglect until St. Matthew's congregation
successfully applied for it to be placed on the state and national registers
of historic places. It allowed for the founding of the Barrow Mansion
Development Corporation in 1984 that received grants in 1992 and 1995
from the New Jersey Historic Trust and other grantors for building restoration.
The mansion is currently used as a community center and is the home of
the Attic Ensemble, a resident theater company. The building also serves
as the venue for the monthly meetings of the Van
Vorst Park Neighborhood Association.

References:

Lynwander, Linda. "Restoring a Mansion in Hopes of Higher Rents."
New York Times 24 July 1994.
National Register of Historic Places Inventory. "Ionic House."
1977. Joan D. Lovero Collection, New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public
Library.
Mansion Development Corporation. "Fact Sheet." April
1993. Joan D. Lovero Collection, New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public
Library.